Downsideup
by BarbaraChilde
Summary: Completely random, AU thing that literally popped into my head.


**A/n's An attempt at writing something meta. It just popped into my head. I hope it works, it was certainly fun thinking out.**

**I have managed to imagine the actual owners of Gossip Girl entirely out of this scenario so I need to acknowledge the fact that neither myself nor Dylan Hunter own any of the rights to either the books or the tv series.**

* * *

"Mr Hunter...would you like to answer a few questions on the release of the 6th and final book of your series Gossip Girl?"

"I guess." Dylan smiled warily at the crowd of reporters clustered by the glass doors of the airport. He rather wouldn't. He would rather hurry home and see his wife after long tour of book signings and interviews that had taken him to what felt like every city in North America. "Please be quick, I'd like to get home. What would you like to know?"

"Is there any possibility for a further book in the series?"

"Gossip Girl is definitely finished. I can't, however, rule out the possibility that the characters won't appear in my future work."

"What will you be moving onto next?"

"I'm not at liberty to reveal that, but I can tell you that I'll be taking a holiday with my family in France before I start serious work on anything new."

A voice came from the other side of the door. "Mr Hunter, there's been an outcry on twitter and other social media sites about Chuck Bass marrying Blair Waldorf in the series end. It seems your fandom is split down the middle over this, sparking an internet war not seen since Rachel and Quinn got married on the Glee retrospective. How do feel about some of the insults that have been directed your way?"

"I'm well inured against internet slurs, as I'm sure you're already aware. I don't really follow twitter."

Another reporter thrust a microphone into his face. "Can you comment on the autobiographical nature of your work, Mr Hunter? It's a well known fact that some of the events are based on your school days. Can you clarify how much of it really happened?"

"I never said the Gossip Girl series was an autobiography, you're the one making that assumption. Yes, the events in the series are based on my late teens and college years in New York, but the work is fiction and in no way is it meant to be a representation of my life."

"Mr Hunter, is it true your wife flew to Paris the day after the book was released."

"Uh, yes, that's correct."

"Are the rumours that she was angry about the way you concluded the series also correct? That your character ended up with someone else besides her?"

"I've never said the character of Blair Waldorf was based on my wife."

"You've never denied it either, Mr Hunter."

"My wife approves the final edits of all my work before my agent even sees it. Although I confess, and I'm going to be trouble for telling you this, we had more than one disagreement about the way I concluded Gossip Girl. Her trip to Paris had more to do with urgent business required for the upcoming spring collection of her family business. That is my final comment on my relationship. Last question."

"Mr Hunter, it's rumoured that CW acquired the rights to the Gossip Girl series of books and plans to make a tv series, can you confirm this?"

"Yes I can. It will go into production early next year."

Dylan ignored the few reporters that followed him through the doors and they soon lost interest when they realised he wouldn't answer any more questions. The weather had turned bitterly cold in New York and he hoped that the threatening sky wouldn't delay his cab ride into the city. The thought of the warm apartment and his wife waiting for him spurred his feet to a faster pace.

"Dylan!"

The familiar voice of his wife's usual driver stopped Dylan in his tracks. He peered over the array of waiting vehicles, retracing his steps toward the voice. The driver stood by the limousine that waited almost by the airport entrance.

The window wound down before he could open the door. "I can't believe you didn't see the limousine, you nearly tripped over it. Although I enjoyed watching you try to evade those journalists."

"I didn't know you were coming to pick me up." He climbed into the back seat of the limousine and leaned over to brush a kiss over his wife's lips. "A happy surprise indeed." She returned the kiss but not the smile. "But why no smile for me?"

"Sabrina came to see me and she's kind of annoyed at us. I knew we should have let her read the book earlier, didn't I say so? I still can't believe I let you publish that."

"It's punishment for the way you both toyed with me in high school."

"Be serious, Hunter, it's so far from what really happened. I've been hounded by journalists about it since I got back to New York yesterday. Everyone knows that Blair Waldorf is based on me."

"Loosely based, Clair." He slid over in his seat so he could put his arm around her. "No one could seriously be as bitchy as Blair. Not even you at your best."

"You think so do you." Clair gazed firmly out the window. "You won't believe what I read on twitter. Someone, I'm sure it's the girl I fired from Carlyle designs for incompetence, said that, these are her exact words, 'Clair Carlyle, is every bit as bitchy and deluded as the character based on her in her husband's books'. Wait there's more...no..you don't deserve any kisses. Listen, she actually said that she could only wonder at what our marriage was like if I treated you the way I treated you in the series."

"Surely you're not going to let something nasty someone wrote online, God forbid, bother you. I thought you didn't care for that."

"I don't care what people say about me but I don't like like people insinuating that I don't treat you well."

"They can think all they like, we know the truth. Don't you think it's at least a little entertaining to keep people guessing?"

"Not today. It's been horrible without you here."

Dylan tightened his arm about her. "It's your own fault you know, you published the first book against my knowledge and I gave you every opportunity to veto the rest. Don't look at me like that. You have no one to blame but yourself."

"Yes, but you could have had written it differently. Charlie thinks it's hilarious, you write him as a complete villain, and then absolve him of all his sins and marry him to your wife as well. By he way he laughed at me today, you could have at least killed him off in a bizarre sexual mishap." Her voice began to grow a little heated. "Dylan, I never thought the books would be as popular as they've become. There are people who actually believe I'm Blair Waldorf. You should make a statement about it."

"What would that consist of? That my beloved wife in no way reflects any of the characteristics of any of the characters in my writing and in fact is sweetness and light incarnate?"

"Something along those lines, yes. At least to start with."

"Clair. Listen to me." Dylan leaned over to kiss the top of her head as she settled back against his shoulder. "Like I already told you, and you said you understood. I couldn't finish the books with Dan and Blair together, everyone would think that I was telling the story of our real romance and that's far too special to me to let anyone speculate on it, anymore than they already do. That story can wait until I'm old and grey and ready to write my real autobiography."


End file.
